Nuance as a Virtue

A book I’m reading makes the point that too often we arrive at conclusions based on “just a few facts with no room for nuance.” We pay a deep price spiritually, emotionally, and spiritually for those conclusions. We worry, feel anxious, and often argue from ignorance with those we love.

Understanding and communicating what’s true also takes a hit.

Truth is a virtue, and what’s true is always complicated, so nuance is a virtue.

Think of a time when someone has mischaracterized you or misunderstood what you were saying (or, at least, trying to say). You cry out, “Wait, that’s not all I said,” or “I didn’t mean what you’re saying,” or you think, ‘That description might be true of me some of the time, but that’s not all I am or the way I am all the time.’

When it’s personal like that, all of sudden we see the value of nuance and the reality of complexity.

Truth is always a little or lot more complicated than a few facts. To come to conclusions with just a few facts and no room for nuance lacks virtue.

So next time someone offers a un-nuanced portrayal of someone or something you already disagree with or a simplistic take on an entrenched problem, citing a few facts and making sweeping generalizations, you have an opportunity to grow in virtue. Take it.

Photo by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash

A Huge Step in Fighting Polarization in the Church and Society

Arthur Brooks in Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt, speaks to one of the causes of polarization:

“You might say, ‘There are some who are simply beyond the pale. There are millions of awful people in this country who advocate ideas that we cannot tolerate. They deserve our contempt, not our love!’ I have heard the sentiment from serious journalists, respected academics, and mainstream politicians. I have thought it myself. That attitude is both wrong and dangerously radical. Anyone who can’t tell the difference between an ordinary Bernie Sanders supporter and a Stalinist revolutionary, or between Donald Trump‘s average voter and a Nazi, is either willfully ignorant or needs to get out of the house more. Today our public discourse is shockingly hyperbolic in ascribing historically murderous ideologies to the tens of millions of ordinary Americans with whom we strongly disagree. Just because you disagree with something doesn’t mean it’s hate speech or the person saying it is a deviant.”

I read this book last year and highly recommend it.

Photo by Mert Kahveci on Unsplash